Tweak in Rule to Ease a Path to Green Card

[alp227]

Last edited Sun Jan 8, 2012, 01:28 AM - Edit history (1)

Obama administration officials announced on Friday they are proposing a fix to a Catch-22 in immigration law that could spare hundreds of thousands of American citizens from prolonged separations from illegal immigrant spouses and children.

Although the regulatory tweak appears small, lawyers said it would mean that many Americans will no longer be separated for months or years from family members pursuing legal residency. Even more citizens could be encouraged to come forward to bring illegal immigrant relatives into the system, they said.

The move was greeted with unusually broad praise from immigration lawyers and immigrant and Latino groups, which have been critical of the high rate of deportations under President Obama. Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, called it a “welcome rational solution to a simple problem” that will mean “thousands upon thousands of families will remain together.”

The fix is one of a number of recent measures by the administration that do not require the approval of Congress, designed to ease the effects on immigrant communities of contradictory or outmoded statutes. White House officials have been seeking ways to shore up sagging support for the president, particularly among Latinos.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/path-to-green-card-for-illegal-immigrant-family-members-of-americans.html

Regarding marriage, I hope the new guidelines still provide penalties for marriage fraud.

[customerserviceguy]

1. You raise some good questions

This just rewards illegal immigrants who manage to procreate, while disfavoring those who choose to keep their pants zipped.

[alp227]

3. yeah i initially misread the first draft of this article.

I edited the OP based on the NY Times' print version (I think it is) and new title. The sentence was constructed so poorly that it gave the impression some US citizens had children who lacked legal status instead of US citizen children having illegal immigrants as parents. See also the NYT's editorial "A Common-Sense Immigration Move". Oh, this plan is something Newt Gingrich also supported in a sense (see that debate a few days before Thanksgiving).

[dipsydoodle]

2. AP source: Admin. plans change in immigration rule

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration plans a rule change to help reduce the time illegal immigrant spouses and children are separated from citizen relatives while they try to win legal status in the United States, a senior administration official said Thursday.

Currently, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the government to waive a three- to 10-year ban on legally coming back to the U.S. The length of the ban depends on how long they have lived in the U.S. without permission.

The official said the new rule would let children and spouses of citizens ask the government to decide on the waiver request before the illegal immigrant heads to his or her home country to apply for a visa. The illegal immigrants still must go home to finish the visa process to come back to the U.S., but getting the waiver ahead of time could reduce the time an illegal immigrant is out of the country.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposed policy change had not been made public.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IMMIGRATION_RELATIVES?SITE=NEYOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT